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- The Myth of the “Independent Creator”
Online sensations like Mr. Beast—the YouTuber with nearly 500 million subscribers—have spurred countless imitators with dreams of online fame. More than 127 million people say they work as “creators,” according to the influencer marketing firm NeoReach. Yet a vanishing few reach the stratospheric heights of Mr. Beast, who reportedly earns $700 million a year, or historian Heather Cox Richardson, whose Substack newsletter, “Letters from an American,” is estimated to bring in $5 million in annual revenues. According to a 2025 survey by NeoReach, 70 percent of creators report earning less than $49,000 a year, and more than half earn less than $15,000 annually. (YouTube, meanwhile, reported $60 billion in revenues in 2025.) As veteran podcaster Matt Robison argues, media has become a “superstar economy” where a small number of players dominate the market. Their incumbency is secured by platforms like YouTube and Substack, which have every incentive to promote their superstars as a way to compete against each other. Algorithms that favor popularity make things worse for smaller creators trying to break in. The result is that no one who isn’t already big can make it big because the big guys are insulated from competition. Robison, who worked for years as a senior staffer on Capitol Hill, is the author of the Substack, Worth Knowing, and the host of the podcast, Beyond Politics. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. The full interview is available at Spotify, YouTube, and iTunes. *** Anne Kim: Social media platforms and platforms like Substack have really created this mythology around the unknown creator who hits it big. And you do have successes like Mr. Beast, Heather Cox Richardson, and Barry Weiss’s “Free Press,” which sold to Paramount for $150 million. Success stories like these create the perception that anyone can become a publisher, and it’s true that back in the day, not everyone could put out their own newspaper. At the same time, I think there’s a pretty strong argument that these platforms that are allegedly intended to democratize influence aren’t really fulfilling their promise. You’ve done this for years now and have quite a bit of experience on the economics of how all these platforms work. Who’s really benefiting? Is it the platforms or are they being fair to the creators? Matt Robison: I’d say that they’re being fair within the limited economics that these platforms offer. It’s not that… [TheTopNews] Read More.3 days ago - ‘We travel 530 miles so our son can have a haircut’
How a very special hairdressing salon in Lowestoft is cutting it when it comes to neurodivergence. [TheTopNews] Read More.3 days ago - Flesh-eating bug made my skin look like roadkillCaroline Fonjock says she owes her life to the medics who quickly diagnosed and treated her. [TheTopNews] Read More.3 days ago
- Australian shock jock wins $12m payout after radio station tore up contractKyle Sandilands was sacked after an on-air spat with his co-host, who accused him of bullying. [TheTopNews] Read More.3 days ago
- Two U.S. Senate candidates in Massachusetts — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democr...
Fact-checking Moulton, Deaton in U.S. Senate debate Source: Politifacts.com [TheTopNews] Read More.3 days ago
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Online sensations like Mr. Beast—the YouTuber with nearly 500 million subscribers—have spurred countless imitators with dreams of online fame. More than 127 million people say they work as “creators,” according to the influencer marketing firm NeoReach. Yet a vanishing few reach the stratospheric heights of Mr. Beast, who reportedly earns $700 million a year, or historian Heather Cox Richardson, whose Substack newsletter, “Letters from an American,” is estimated to bring in $5 million in annual revenues. According to a 2025 survey by NeoReach, 70 percent of creators report earning less than $49,000 a year, and more than half earn less than $15,000 annually. (YouTube, meanwhile, reported $60 billion in revenues in 2025.) As veteran podcaster Matt Robison argues, media has become a “superstar economy” where a small number of players dominate the market. Their incumbency is secured by platforms like YouTube and Substack, which have every incentive to promote their superstars as a way to compete against each other. Algorithms that favor popularity make things worse for smaller creators trying to break in. The result is that no one who isn’t already big can make it big because the big guys are insulated from competition. Robison, who worked for years as a senior staffer on Capitol Hill, is the author of the Substack, Worth Knowing, and the host of the podcast, Beyond Politics. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. The full interview is available at Spotify, YouTube, and iTunes. *** Anne Kim: Social media platforms and platforms like Substack have really created this mythology around the unknown creator who hits it big. And you do have successes like Mr. Beast, Heather Cox Richardson, and Barry Weiss’s “Free Press,” which sold to Paramount for $150 million. Success stories like these create the perception that anyone can become a publisher, and it’s true that back in the day, not everyone could put out their own newspaper. At the same time, I think there’s a pretty strong argument that these platforms that are allegedly intended to democratize influence aren’t really fulfilling their promise. You’ve done this for years now and have quite a bit of experience on the economics of how all these platforms work. Who’s really benefiting? Is it the platforms or are they being fair to the creators? Matt Robison: I’d say that they’re being fair within the limited economics that these platforms offer. It’s not that… [TheTopNews] Read More.
3 days ago
How a very special hairdressing salon in Lowestoft is cutting it when it comes to neurodivergence. [TheTopNews] Read More.
3 days ago
Caroline Fonjock says she owes her life to the medics who quickly diagnosed and treated her. [TheTopNews] Read More.
3 days ago
Kyle Sandilands was sacked after an on-air spat with his co-host, who accused him of bullying. [TheTopNews] Read More.
3 days ago
Fact-checking Moulton, Deaton in U.S. Senate debate Source: Politifacts.com [TheTopNews] Read More.
3 days ago
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